Recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time working on a very important article for me. Japanese food has always been my favourite, and while this list that I’ve written for Toronto.com is by no means exhaustive, I do think it has some of the best Japanese cuisine you can find in the city.

I visited a variety of restaurants, and my plan is to do an individual write-up on each restaurant that I’ve posted about in my article as well so that you guys can all get an inside scoop into how awesome each location was. There were some obvious ones that I didn’t cover that I do think are amazing. For example, Yasu, JaBistro, Santouka, Kingyo, and Sushi Kaji to name some.

From Raijin Ramen

Like most areas of Japanese food, using the title of ‘best’ is often contentious — in the case of ramen, some sing praise of Kinton’s incredible meat, or Santouka’s great broth, Sansotei’s awesome noodles, etc. While it’s all up to opinion, all of them are amazing in their own way and my preference is Raijin!

The legendary o-toro at Zen

Of course, the best sushi in town is a hotly debated issue too. Yasu and JaBistro are both great in their own right, but Zen‘s mastery of simplicity and letting their ingredients do the talking makes me feel like Zen should be the top. Look forward to an actual article on Zen when they move to their new location later in the month!

Just because it’s ‘pedestrian’ doesn’t mean it’s not delicious

In my article, even the street food of Japan makes an appearance. After all, Japanese cuisine isn’t limited to sushi, sashimi, tempura, teriyaki, etc. It’s important to think about EVERYTHING a cuisine has to offer in the city. Mampuku is pictured here, and their lovely, fluffy pillow-esque takoyaki are a true treat.

Photo Credit: Trang Bui

Something I’ve always loved about Japanese cuisine is how artistic it can be. This sayori (Japanese half-beak) from Japan was taken at Sushi Couture, an incredible joint down in the Annex that blows all its competitors in the area out of the water. Affordable but with exotic fish like this, it is always a treat.

But well, I won’t bore you too much with the details: Take a look at the full article HERE! And look forward to many blog posts in the near future about all these incredible establishments.